1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an image forming apparatus and a color correcting method thereof, and a host apparatus to correct the color of an output image using the same, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus to correct a color conversion table based on monitor information and a color correcting method thereof, and a host apparatus to correct the color of an output image using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to print a red, green, blue (RGB) image, a printing apparatus requires a process of converting the RGB image into a cyan, magenta, yellow, black (CMYK) image. Most of the printing apparatuses use a pre-stored color conversion table to covert a RGB image into a CMYK image.
A user can check the color of a RGB image to be printed by viewing the RGB image displayed on a monitor. A conventional technique of converting a RGB image into a CMYK image uses a color conversion table, which is pre-stored for the purpose of converting standard RGB (sRGB), which is based on the characteristic of a cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor, into CMYK, and achieves correct color matching between the monitor and the printing apparatus. That is, in the case of a CRT monitor, a RGB image displayed on the CRT monitor matches a CMYK image output through the printing apparatus.
However, in recent years, a liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor is being used more than the CRT monitor. Therefore, when the conventional technique of converting a RGB image into a CMYK image is applied to the LCD monitor, correct color matching between the LCD monitor and the printing apparatus cannot be achieved.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a color gamut in the CIExy chromaticity coordinates according to a type of monitor.
Referring to FIG. 1, a monitor expressed by sRGB has the characteristic of a CRT monitor, which has a brightness of 80 cd/m2 and a white point chromaticity of a light source D65 (Daylight, 6,500K).
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the color gamut of a CRT monitor is different from that of a LCD monitor, such as a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) LCD 1, CCFL LCD 2, and a light emitting diode (LED) LCD. Also, the LCD monitors show different color gamuts depending on their types. This means that the CRT monitor and the LCD monitor displays different colors for the same image.
Since a conventional printing apparatus uses a color conversion table which is prepared to match the color with the color of the CRT monitor, the conventional printing apparatus cannot reproduce the color which matches the color of an image displayed on the LCD monitor when converting a RGB image into a CMYK image. That is, since the conventional printing apparatus uses a color conversion table for converting sRGB into CMYK, it cannot reproduce the color which matches the color of an image displayed on the LCD monitor.
Also, since the setting environment such as contrast, color temperature, and brightness of the monitor may be changed according to user's preference, a problem of mismatching between the RGB image displayed on the monitor and the CMYK image printed by the printing apparatus becomes more serious.